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Understanding how LED pixels relate to viewing distance, image quality, image size, quality of viewed image and maximising the LED screen area is confusing for those new to considering an LED solution.

In this discussion I want to describe some actual scenarios relating to score boards and using the computer based score board software.

So the first aspect to consider is how large does the text need to be viewed. This really comes down to how far are the viewing distances as the text needs to be easily viewable and understood. Not much point having an LED that is not delivering good quality readable text. Every score board typically will have a mix of text and the all important score digits. Typically the text will be the team name, venue etc.

This digit of the play time clock digit measures 640mm x 480mm on a P10 LED screen and measures 3.36m x 1.92m measures

The pitch of an LED sign is the distance between each pixel. If the specifications of an LED screen you are considering has a Pitch (or resolution) of 10mm – then there are ten millimetres from the centre of one pixel to the adjacent pixel. The smaller the pitch number the more LEDs per square-meter which means the resolution will be higher and image sharper. A sign with an LED screen rated at 10 mm pitch can show more characters and the picture will be less pixelated up close than a LED screen of the same area size with a pitch of 20 mm.

An ICE LED Scoreboard screen is a full matrix screen which means that every pixel is active in the screen area. This means we can take advantage of scaling the score board software to maximise the ICE LED cabinet size when they are combined together.

In the the following graphics we have mapped on the desktop the LED screen pixel area to meet actual screens and then the scaling of the scoreboard software to best maximize the area. We have used a P10mm pitch screen as the example.

So first up is a cabinet size of 1280mm x 1920mm screen arranged in a 3 x 2 array giving us a total of 384 pixels x 192 pixel and screen szie of 3840mm x 1920mm. Here the digital display in real life on the screen, the 0 digit in the Visitor Team score is 900mm high x 680 wide. the T in team name is 130mm high and the H of the venue is 180 mm

This images shows the area of 384 x 192 pixels and for a P10 screen measures 3.84m x 1.92m

Next we have some examples using our Plas480 cabinets. In a 3360mm x
1920mm screen size of 7 x 4 cabinets we have 336 pixels x 192 pixels

This screen image on P10 screen is 3.36m x 1.92m

Finally we have a screen size of 2880mm x 1920mm by using 6 x 4 cabinets giving us a total pixel size of 288 x 192 pixels. Here the digital display in real life on the screen, the 8 digit is 700mm high and wide. The T in team name is 130mm high and the H of the venue is 180mm.

288px * 192px screen size is 2880mm x 1920mm in display area

So you can see where we have lined up the actual graphic output of the LED screen area (smiley faces area) with the Scoreboard software scaled to the correct pixel size.

These sizes would all be ideal for many sports fields. Depending on the sports disciplines the screens might need to be slightly larger as a minimum size due to extra on screen scoring information.